Answer Addiction

Tag: opioids

  • Opioid Vaccine Shows Promise in Early Testing

    Opioid Vaccine Shows Promise in Early Testing

    Alongside its potential use as an opioid vaccine, the experimental medicine may also help first responders who accidentally come in contact with synthetic opioids. 

    Researchers have reported that a newly developed vaccine that could combat both opioid dependency and overdose has yielded what appear to be positive results in animal testing. The vaccine, which uses monoclonal antibodies – antibodies made by identical copies of immune cells – appeared to block both the analgesic properties of synthetic opioids like fentanyl, as well as their high propensity of producing a fatal overdose, when administered in preliminary tests.

    The researchers have begun developing antibodies in the hope of testing their vaccine on humans.

    Researchers from The Scripps Research Institute, which conducted the tests, presented their findings on December 13 at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. The study detailed the creation of the monoclonal antibodies as well as two tests of their efficacy involving mice.

    In the first test, the research team measured pain response using a heated beam of light that was applied to a mouse’s tail. An immediate response – specifically, the mice removed their tail from the light – suggested that the animal experienced a degree of pain, while a delayed response suggested that the pain had been dulled.

    Mice were then given a synthetic opioid such as fentanyl and exposed to the light beam, which produced a longer response time due to the pain-dulling properties of the drug. However, when given the antibodies, the researchers found that the mice withdrew their tails at a faster rate, which suggested that the vaccine had blocked the drug’s analgesic effect.

    In the second test, mice were given the vaccine, followed by a dose of fentanyl that had proven fatal in other test animals. According to the study, the mice did not experience overdose. In both tests, the antibodies proved effective against seven other synthetic opioids, including carfentanil, which the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) described as the “most potent fentanyl analog detected in the United States” and which has been linked to a number of overdose deaths.

    As US News and World Report noted, research of this nature involving animals does not always produce the same results in human test subjects, so the study authors are in the process of developing human antibodies and hope to test them in the future.

    “Antibodies persist longer, and thus have enormous promise for addressing both opioid addiction as well as overdose,” said study leader Kim Janda in a press release.

    In addition to the vaccine’s possible use with drug users, Janda and his fellow authors believe that it may have a practical application as a safeguard for individuals who may come in contact with synthetic opioids. “These antibodies could be used to protect police, EMTs and other first responders from inadvertent acute fentanyl exposure,” he said, adding that a canine version could also be applicable for drug-sniffing dogs.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • DEA, Drug Distributors Failed To Protect West Virginia, Report Says

    DEA, Drug Distributors Failed To Protect West Virginia, Report Says

    A new report highlighted the way millions of opioids flooded small towns in West Virginia over a 10-year-period with ineffective government oversight.

    Despite the fact that “inordinate volumes of opioids” were flowing into West Virginia between 2006 and 2015, drug distributors continued to fill outrageous orders, and the Drug Enforcement Administration took ineffective measures to enforce regulations that could have slowed the flow of opioids, according to a federal report released last week. 

    The report, “Red Flags and Warning Signs Ignored: Opioid Distribution and Enforcement Concerns in West Virginia,” was prepared by House Energy and Commerce Committee.

    It found that in 10 years, 20.8 million opioids were sent to pharmacies in the town of Williamson, which has a population of just 3,000. Another town, Kermit, which has a population of just 364 people, received 9 million. Overall, between 2007 and 2012, West Virginia pharmacies received more than 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills.

    “These troubling examples raised serious questions about compliance with the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), administered by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA),” report authors wrote. 

    The report reviewed the practices of drug distributors, who are responsible for filling orders by pharmacies. Five companies, including the three largest in the country and two regional distributors, were reviewed. These were AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation, Cardinal Health, Inc., H.D. Smith Wholesale Drug Co., McKesson Corporation, and Miami-Luken, Inc. 

    The companies have a legal obligation to alert the DEA when they suspected that drugs were being diverted into illegal use. However, case studies reviewed in the report “raise sufficient concerns as to whether these companies fulfilled their legal obligations to prevent drug diversion.”

    In fact, “the extraordinary volume of shipments in West Virginia was a signal of possible breakdowns in distributors’ oversight of their customers, including their suspicious order monitoring systems. Yet the actions taken by both distributors and the DEA contributed to — and failed to stop — this problem,” report authors wrote. 

    The report also found that the DEA’s Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System, which is meant to help detect abnormal drug distribution patterns in real time, was not used to monitor distribution, but only to reinforce cases after they’d been flagged through other means. Additionally, the agency revoked the registration of fewer doctors and pharmacies thought to be contributing to drug diversion during the height of the pill crisis. 

    Authors of the report said that the findings could help explain how the opioid epidemic unfolded across the nation. 

    “Taken altogether, the Committee’s report outlines a series of missteps and missed opportunities that contributed to the worsening of the opioid epidemic in West Virginia,” they wrote. “This investigation identified flaws limiting the effectiveness of the distributors’ compliance programs and DEA’s enforcement. While focused on a narrow part of West Virginia, the report raises grave concerns about practices by the distributors and the DEA nationwide.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Meth, Opioid Abuse Intertwine In Pennsylvania

    Meth, Opioid Abuse Intertwine In Pennsylvania

    “They go hand-in-hand. Many are literally just making meth, just to sell it, and support their heroin habit,” said a Pennsylvania police chief.

    As the nation focuses on the dangers of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, use of methamphetamine has continued to rise around the country. However, in rural Pennsylvania, law enforcement said that there is no sense in parsing the issue because opioid abuse and meth abuse are so closely tied. 

    “They go hand-in-hand. Many are literally just making meth, just to sell it, and support their heroin habit,” Berwick, Pennsylvania Police Chief Ken Strish told The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

    In Berwick, 46% of drug arrests over the past six years have involved meth. And it’s not just the much-talked-about meth coming from Mexican cartels. Strish said that small shake-and-bath meth operations are still detrimental to his community. 

    “We’ve seen a four-apartment complex burn to the ground relatively quickly because of a meth fire,” he said. 

    The problem is so widespread that the town has earned the nickname “Methwick,” Strish said. 

    “Yes, our numbers were very intense for a community of 10,000,” he added.

    Still, while 55 people had been arrested for meth possession in Berwick this year, 86 were arrested for heroin possession. 

    In Dubois, Pennsylvania, another rural town, law enforcement and community members gathered at a fundraiser for the family of Officer Patrick Straub, who was killed in September during a head-on crash with a driver who had “off the charts” amounts of methamphetamine in his system. 

    “He was a good person that deserved better. He loved his wife, loved his child,” DuBois City Police Cpl. Matthew Robertson said. “Always spoke about his child. Beautiful little girl.”

    The driver, 32-year-old Corey Alan Williams, was also killed in the accident, leaving behind two daughters. The tragedy was just the latest meth-related incident that has left DuBois families reeling. 

    Speaking at the fundraiser, DuBois Police Chief Blaine Clark said that the city has seen a 129% increase in drug reports, driven by meth use. 

    “It’s crazy. I’ve never seen something boom as quick as it did,” he said. 

    Clark said that he sees long-time users turn into “zombies,” leaving their kids uncared for. “You go into these houses and there’s kids and, like, three or four meth heads laying around,” he said.

    Both Dubois and Berwick are along a major highway that makes it easy for dealers and drug users to travel to and from the surrounding states with drugs. 

    “We’re getting a lot of local people going down to Akron, Ohio. That’s a big hot spot,” said Clark. “They’re going to Johnstown area, and they’re going to Philly and Pittsburgh.”

    That’s why law enforcement has been targeting dealers who are bringing drugs into the area. 

    “We want to get the dealers who are bringing this poison in, that’s who we’re after,” Clark said. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Doctor Accused Of Prescribing Pills Linked To Overdose Deaths

    Doctor Accused Of Prescribing Pills Linked To Overdose Deaths

    The doctor’s prescription writing was allegedly so extreme that a local CVS stopped accepting prescriptions he wrote. 

    There’s a lot of attention on the so-called “third wave” of the opioid epidemic, synthetic opioids, but the arrest of a California doctor this week for allegedly illegally distributing prescription pills shows that medications are still a dangerous part of the epidemic.

    Orange County doctor Dzung Ahn Pham, 57, who owns Irvine Village Urgent Care was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly providing prescriptions to patients whom he never actually examined, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

    He is facing two charges of illegally distributing oxycodone. At least five people who reportedly received medications from Pham overdosed, and another man who was allegedly using pills from Pham was involved in a fatal car accident.  

    “This case clearly and tragically illustrates the dangers of drug dealers armed with prescription pads,” United States Attorney Nick Hanna said in the press release. “This doctor is accused of flooding Southern California with huge quantities of opioids and other dangerous narcotics by writing prescriptions for drugs he knew would be diverted to the street. Prosecutors in my office, working with their law enforcement partners, will tirelessly pursue everyone involved in the trafficking of opioids as part of our persistent and ongoing efforts to stop the trail of misery that follows these dangerous drugs.”

    Pham’s prescription writing was allegedly so extreme that a local CVS stopped accepting prescriptions he wrote. 

    According to an affidavit, Pham provided medications including Adderall, oxycodone, tramadol, sSuboxone, norco, soma, alprazolam, and hydrocodone bitartrate-acetaminophen to patients who requested them via text message. At least 84 patients had prescriptions within a day or two after sending texts. 

    Last summer, undercover agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration also reportedly received pills from Pham, including a “Holy Trinity, [which] is the combined use of an opioid (such as hydrocodone), a benzodiazepine (such as Valium), and carisoprodol (a muscle relaxer like Soma),” according to the press release. The doctor then reportedly sent the undercover agent to a specific pharmacy that still accepted his prescriptions. 

    The pill mill operation was reportedly lucrative for Pham, who is believed to have deposited more than $5 million into personal accounts over the past five years. He also reportedly deposited $1.7 million into a business account. Investigators say he was charging $100-$150 per visit; it’s not clear how patients who requested prescriptions via text were charged. 

    William D. Bodner, DEA Los Angeles Associate Special Agent in Charge, said that targeting doctors who write prescriptions irresponsibly is a priority. 

    “This arrest should serve as a warning to any physician who utilizes their position to traffic opioids,” he said.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • A Christmas Gift from the Dopeman

    A Christmas Gift from the Dopeman

    You know what sucks about being an addict? A ten mile walk in the freezing cold to get pills on Christmas morning because you have no other options.

    You know what sucks about telling your family you’re an addict right before the holidays? Everything.

    I come from a very large Puerto Rican family. So usually for the holidays, we pick a house and see how many people we can cram into it while we stuff our faces with some of the best cuisine known to man. There’s music of course, and lots of love and laughter.

    A few weeks before our annual Christmas party, I told my family I had been using drugs for a few years. My mom’s house was the lucky one picked to host the festivities that year and I was going to do my best to be a good little junkie and try not to ruin it like I had just ruined the last 10 years of my godforsaken life.

    In the days leading up to the party, I had successfully weaned off the crack and was only shooting up opioids. I didn’t want to be too fucked up once family started to arrive.

    You know what doesn’t suck about Christmas parties? All the purses, wallets, and car keys all over the house. I had only confessed to my mom and my brother about my substance abuse and I don’t think my mom had told anyone. I hadn’t yet graduated to fucking over every family member so the forecast to get over on a few aunts and cousins was looking really bright.

    But I had to be on my best behavior, so I put that thought out of my mind. Just for tonight, I will not steal from my family. I shot up the rest of my pills earlier that day and decided I would just drink all the holiday beverages my family would take part in. I can do that, right? A little controlled drinking? Sure I can.

    Keeping Up Appearances

    You know what’s worse than drinking with family members who know you’re a junkie? Not being able to drink the way you want to, like a drunk. It’s a special kind of hell. Even before they knew, get-togethers and dinners sucked. They could all have a sip here and there, maybe get a little buzzed. But me, I just want to finish everyone’s glasses. Can’t they see the alcohol stuck on that ice cube?

    Amateurs.

    I just want to feel good. I want to feel normal. Everyone is smiling and having a good time. I’m over here nursing this Bud Light about to freak the hell out. It’s amazing the torture we put ourselves through while trying to keep up with appearances. I’m talking way before we hit the fuck-it button and stop giving a damn about what they think. I was still trying to save face but oh god, the pain. The withdrawals from the opioids are sneaking up and my thought is: if I’m not going to get right the way I want, I can at least get shit-faced off of this free liquor being sipped on by my family.

    Fuck. There are too many people here and my brother is watching every move I make. I know he’s concerned. I can see my mom texting my brother to check up on me and it’s pissing me off. I go out front to have a smoke and bring two beers with me. I can kill these quickly and ditch the bottles before anyone comes to join me. That way they don’t ask me if I’ve had too many.

    This party sucks. I want to get high.

    I text the closest dealer to me, a guy who lives about four miles away. I ask him if he’s got any pills on him. It’s about 9:30 p.m. when I get a text back. He tells me he’s good and that this pill is on the house because it’s Christmas Eve. 

    How nice, my dealer is giving me a free pill for Christmas. What a guy! The only problem is, he’s not delivering. It’s Christmas Eve and he’s spending it with his family. What a devoted baby daddy.

    Now I gotta figure out a way to get to him. My car was repossessed when I was in jail back in November and I’m sure as hell not asking a family member to go on a drug run with me.

    It’s 9:45 and 50 degrees out, that’s not too bad. What a beautiful night to take a stroll. I mean, the temperature is dropping quickly but fuck it, let’s just walk out of this party with everybody you know and go for a quick little four-mile stroll. Who’s gonna notice?

    Scoring Dope on Christmas Eve

    I grab my hoodie and hit the block.

    I scroll to a playlist filled with the most gangster, hood, female-degrading, drug-referencing music I can find. It’s funny how music can move an individual. It’s interesting to track the music we listen to when we get sober and how it changes when we morally begin to transform. Music is powerful. I’m a firm believer of the saying “garbage in, garbage out” and sometimes when someone shares their music with me in recovery, it reminds me of using or brings me to a mindset of just wanting to do hoodrat shit. It’s not healthy.

    And what the fuck is up with everyone in early sobriety listening to Kevin Gates and these other mumble rappers?! But I digress.

    I find the playlist I want to walk to and get to steppin’. I make it about two miles down the road before I start trying to flag down cars. The clock is ticking and I’m afraid my dealer is going to be asleep by the time I get there.

    Have you ever tried to wake up a drug dealer in the middle of the night to score? It’s not a pleasant experience.

    It’s getting really cold out. I should’ve worn pants. Dumbass.

    Hey! I see a car slowing down. A half hour of waving my thumb out is finally paying off. I’m going to get a ride to my dealer’s house!

    As the car gets closer, I realize it’s my brother. Fuck. He pulls up next to me and very wearily and with a tone of disappointment asks: “What are you doing, man?” I tell him I needed some fresh air and I was just going for a quick stroll. I know he doesn’t buy my response but he tells me to get in. We drive back home.

    Damn. Two more miles, that was it. Just two more miles and I would’ve had my drugs.

    I am pissed.

    We get back to the house and the party has died down. Most of the family has left, the food has been put away, and the music has been turned down. I call my dealer to see if he’s still up. He tells me he’s about to go to bed but that he’ll leave the pill underneath the only green coffee cup in his cupboard. He tells me to call his baby momma when I get there and she’ll let me in. I tell him that I’ll probably be on foot so it’ll be an hour or two. It’s not a problem.

    Okay, so all I have to do is wait for my brother to leave, which shouldn’t be long. My mom is already in the shower, that means she’ll be in bed in fifteen minutes. Alright, I got this.

    Tomorrow we have to be up early to drive to my aunt’s house for breakfast and exchanging gifts with the rest of the family. It’s tradition. No worries. As long as I have my dope, I’m good.

    A half hour goes by and it’s time to hit the block again. My mom is sleeping and my brother is gone.

    I’m walking again and it’s cold. My dumbass didn’t think to throw pants on because I was too concerned about leaving as soon as I could.

    The whole time I’m walking to his house, I’m thinking about how utterly powerless I am. It’s Christmas fucking Eve and I’m walking a total of now six miles to acquire one fucking Dilaudid. One. I am a hopeless piece of shit that cannot go a few hours without a fix.

    It’s two in the morning when I get to his house and she’s not answering. I call her ten more times, still no answer. I start to blow his phone up, nothing.

    I’ll be damned. I am not leaving this house until I get my drugs. It’s Christmas, damn it.

    I start knocking on the front door which is a big no-no with this guy but I really need this pill. No answer. I walk to the end of his driveway and light a cigarette. I’ll smoke the whole thing, and try calling again. If no one picks up, I’ll try knocking one more time and if that doesn’t work, I’ll just call my mom and make up some sob story for her to come pick me up. No big deal, right?

    I take two long drags from the cigarette, throw it out, turn around, and begin banging on the door.

    A Gun to the Head

    His half-asleep girlfriend opens the door and points a gun to my head. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

    Without flinching I tell her my name, tell her about the arrangement with her man and walk right past her and the pistol and straight into the kitchen. I open up the cupboard and look for the green coffee cup. Found it! I lift it up and can’t believe my eyes.

    Either my dealer is super generous or he royally fucked up. There’s a bag with nine pills in it. I grab the bag and walk out the door. I turn around and tell his girlfriend that I’ll be by in the morning with the money.

    I’m sure he’s gonna freak the hell out when she wakes him up and tells him I was in his house at two in the morning and took the whole bag. He knows where I live and he has a bad temper. I used to ride around with him to help “collect” his debts and needless to say, you don’t want to be in debt to this guy.

    I begin to run as fast as I can. If I can at least get off his street, I know I’m good. It’s too late for him to do anything this early in the morning.

    Six miles, 40 degree weather, two in the morning on Christmas Day, and now I have to walk four more miles to get back to the house and get right.

    You know what sucks about being an addict? A ten mile walk in the freezing cold to get pills on Christmas morning because you have no other options.

    When I finally got home, I couldn’t feel my face and my legs literally felt like Jello. My mom was awake and freaking out because she didn’t know where I was. I told her I was just walking around the neighborhood smoking and that it wasn’t a big deal.

    I couldn’t even enjoy shooting up the pill because my body was so sore. I just fell asleep.

    But at least I had more dope when I woke up to take part in all the Christmas festivities the next day. I felt like such a loser being with my family that Christmas. I spent the whole day in and out of the bathroom, getting right every 45 minutes.

    A New Tradition

    I love being able to look back on that Christmas and know that I don’t have to live like that anymore. The best gift I can give my family today is to show up this year to their party completely present and sober. It’s what I did last year, it’s what I plan on doing this year. No one is hiding their purse or wondering where I am going when I step out to smoke. I’m just a son and a brother enjoying his family. I look forward to Christmas parties now. Dread and anxiety has turned into excitement and joy and gratitude.

    If nobody told you today that they love you, fuck it, there’s always tomorrow.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • How Physical Therapy May Help Reduce Opioid Use

    How Physical Therapy May Help Reduce Opioid Use

    Researchers combed through insurance claims of chronic pain patients to determine if physical therapy could help reduce their pain enough to cut back on their pain meds.

    Getting physical therapy early on may help pain patients reduce their long-term opioid use by about 10%, according to research published this week in the journal JAMA Network Open. 

    “By serving as an alternative or adjunct to short-term opioid use for patients with musculoskeletal pain, early physical therapy may play a role in reducing the risk of long-term opioid use,” the study authors wrote. “Early physical therapy appears to be associated with subsequent reductions in longer-term opioid use and lower-intensity opioid use for all of the musculoskeletal pain regions examined.”

    To conduct the study, researchers reviewed the insurance claims of 88,985 patients with shoulder, neck, knee or low back pain. They found that using physical therapy, as recommended by best practices, is associated with reduced opioid use. Since long-term opioid use can lead to dependence and addiction, physical therapy could potentially help reduce those conditions. 

    “Using early physical therapy, consistent with recent clinical guidelines, could play an important role in reducing the risk of transitioning to chronic long-term opioid use for patients with shoulder, neck, knee, and low back pain,” researchers wrote. 

    The director of the division of integrative pain management at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, Dr. Houman Danesh, said this study shows how important physical therapy can be in long-term pain relief. 

    “You can take an opioid for a month, but if you don’t get at the underlying issue [for the pain], you’ll go back to where you started,” Danesh, who wasn’t involved with the study, told WebMD. Getting physical therapy can help patients address the underlying cause of their pain. 

    However, he pointed out that it’s critical to have access to high-quality physical therapists.

    “Physical therapy is highly variable,” he said. “Not all physical therapists are equal — just like not all doctors are.”

    Dr. Eric Sun, who teaches anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine at Stanford University and who led the study, said patients should consider trying physical therapy instead of relying solely on opioid pain relief. 

    “For people dealing with these types of musculoskeletal pain, it may really be worth considering physical therapy — and suggesting that your health care provider give you a referral,” he said. 

    Sun pointed out that the study merely established a link between physical therapy and lower opioid use; it did not prove that physical therapy causes people to use fewer opioids. 

    “Since physical therapy is more work than simply taking an opioid, patients who are willing to try physical therapy may be patients who are more motivated in general to reduce opioid use,” he said. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Heartbreaking Billboard Aims To Raise Awareness About Addiction

    Heartbreaking Billboard Aims To Raise Awareness About Addiction

    The billboard spotlights a brief, powerful message: “Tim Hatley: Addiction Can Lead to Death.”

    Amidst the pre-fab buildings and snow of northern Michigan sits a stark reminder for the Hatley family.

    It’s a roadside billboard with a simple message: “Tim Hatley: Addiction Can Lead to Death.” 

    On a rural road outside the town of Grayling – population 1,800 – the signage is aimed at raising awareness about addiction, using the story of a former high school football player who died by suicide last year after struggling with addiction. 

    “When he turned 19 he moved out of my house and moved down the street with a friend and that’s kind of when it all started that he started snorting Norcos,” his mother Karen told CBS affiliate WWTV. “He had a huge addiction with the Norcos, went through three withdrawals with him.”

    It started after he was prescribed painkillers for a sports injury. Afterward, he kept using the pills and pain management gave way to a larger problem. After more than a decade of drug misuse, he turned from opioids to meth, his mother said. 

    A month before his death, he had a psychotic episode. On Dec. 30 of last year he killed himself.

    “His fiancé had called me and said ‘he’s gone’ and hung up on me. And I was like ‘what is she’s talking about?’” Hatley told the TV station. “I called my husband and said ‘you need to come home now.’ So, he came home, and when he walked in he was crying, and just shook his head and I fell to the ground.”

    So this year, she paired up with the Crawford County Partnership for Substance Abuse Prevention to put up a billboard reminding passersby of her son’s story and offering a solution. “If you need help, recovery starts here. Call 1-800-834-3393,” the sign says.

    “I chose the billboard going towards the high school because I want kids on a bus to see that every single day, and I want parents to get the message that you know, you’re [sic] kid doesn’t have to be a troubled kid to end up this way,” Hatley said. “This loss is the worst thing I’ve ever had to go through, and I don’t want anyone else to go through this.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Small Town Brings In Big-Thinking Addiction Specialist And Changes Everything

    Small Town Brings In Big-Thinking Addiction Specialist And Changes Everything

    Nearly 82% of rural Americans live in counties that do not have detoxification services and the town of Ashland, Wisconsin sought to change that reality.

    In a little town in Wisconsin, where the death rate from drug and alcohol abuse is almost twice as high as the state average, Dr. Mark Lim has changed the lives of those addicted and their families.

    A certified addiction specialist since 2016 (when it became a subspecialty of certification), Dr. Lim arrived in the town of Ashland as the newly hired recovery program medical director at NorthLakes Community Clinic.

    Rural communities typically lack basic resources to treat substance abuse.

    Nearly 82% of rural Americans live in counties that do not have detoxification services, a staggering number. This means anyone struggling with drug addiction has two choices – they can try to endure detox on their own (often medically unsafe), with the support of a local doctor (often hard to find in such areas) or they can relocate to begin treatment.

    A recent poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health named opioid and other drug abuse as the top health concern for rural Americans.

    The town of Ashland wanted to change this scenario. To fund an addiction treatment service program, NorthLakes applied for and won a grant from the state of Wisconsin, in addition to obtaining other federal grants intended for mental health and addiction.

    The next step was to hire a doctor to prescribe buprenorphine, known by the trade name Suboxone. Only doctors with special training are legally allowed to dole out Suboxone. Another staggering statistic on rural reality: a 2015 study found that more than 80% of US rural counties do not have even one physician able to prescribe it.

    Dr. Lim was hired and flew into Ashland with one request: He wanted to head a comprehensive program to treat addiction and not just treat it from one angle. Dr. Lim told NPR, “Opioids are big right now, but you have to work with alcohol too. You have to work with marijuana too. You have to work with methamphetamine, cocaine.”

    The addiction recovery program was built with community partners including educators, law enforcement and tribal leadership. The Ashland program includes a combination of counseling, group therapy for addiction and underlying mental health issues, as well as case management. Staff help patients with things like transportation to the clinic, daycare during therapy sessions and employment.

    John Gale of the Maine Rural Health Research Center supports this program structure, telling NPR, “That’s exactly the way it should be done. Because most people with a substance use disorder have co-occurring mental health and substance use problems. If we take care of [a patient’s] heroin problems and we don’t treat the underlying mental health and substance abuse problems, they’re going to go to go to [sic] alcohol, they’re going to do something else.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Young Mayor’s Overdose Death Captures National Epidemic

    Young Mayor’s Overdose Death Captures National Epidemic

    “I never would’ve thought he had an issue. Brandon made a mistake and paid the ultimate price,” the former mayor’s mother said after his fatal overdose. 

    The story of a small-town Pennsylvania mayor and his friend who both fatally overdosed on opioids is highlighting the dangers of the national drug epidemic and the heartbreak of families left behind. 

    Brandon Wentz was 24 when he overdosed last year. He had recently resigned as mayor of Mount Carbon, population 87, because his family had moved to a nearby town. The resignation hit Wentz hard, said his mother, Janel Firestone.

    “You could just see the stress and sadness in him,” she told the Associated Press.

    After struggling to write his resignation letter, which ended up being just 180 words, Wentz’s friend Ryan Fessler came over. The pair had been spending more time together, according to Fessler’s childhood friend. 

    “They were the same person,” she said. “They both wrote, they both drew, they would make up funny raps together. They really did want the best for each other.”

    However, this worried some of Wentz’s friends, who knew that Fessler struggled with substance abuse. 

    “He wasn’t a bad person, he was nice, but he had his own demons, too, and demons will invite more demons,” said Brandon Radziewicz, Wentz’s longtime friend. “I think they were good at fueling each other’s habits.”

    The day of the resignation letter, the two men went to Wentz’s room until Fessler left. That afternoon, Firestone tried to wake her son for his overnight shift, but he wouldn’t rouse. She suspected he had a migraine, and since he had always been a heavy sleeper she wasn’t concerned. However, the next morning Wentz was dead of an overdose of heroin and fentanyl, something that shocked Firestone.

    “I never would’ve thought he had an issue,” she said. “Brandon made a mistake and paid the ultimate price.” 

    While Wentz’s family was blindsided, Fessler’s family knew of his addiction and did everything possible to protect him from overdose until he died just six months after Wentz, even sending him to treatment in Florida. However, Fessler’s grief over losing his best friend just made his addiction worse. A few weeks after Wentz died, Fessler’s girlfriend found him in bed crying, saying, “I killed my best friend. I gave it to him.” 

    Firestone, who was always skeptical of her son’s relationship with Fessler, blamed him for Wentz’s overdose. Fessler’s mother, Kim Kramer, said she understands completely.

    “I get it, I truly do,” she said. “You wake up, you think about it all day, it’s forever there. You want to find out who gave it to them. … You want to hate the one who handed your son the bag.”

    Firestone says she wishes Wentz’s friends had brought his drug abuse to her attention, something Radziewicz says he should have done, in hindsight. 

    “I was thinking, foolishly, that I would lose my best friend, and he wouldn’t talk to me again,” he said. “Guess what? I lost my best friend.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Family Of Woman Whose Obituary Went Viral Sue For Info About Her Death

    Family Of Woman Whose Obituary Went Viral Sue For Info About Her Death

    According to the suit by the ACLU, police refused to provide Madelyn Lisenmeir with medical attention while being held in custody–neglect that may have led to her death.

    When Madelyn Linsenmeir died after a battle with opioid addiction on October 7, 2018, her family penned a heartfelt obituary for the 30-year-old single mother and earned sympathy and praise across the globe for turning their tragedy into a plea to help other opioid dependency sufferers.

    Now Linsenmeir’s family is suing the city of Springfield, Massachusetts and its police force to find out what happened to her in the days leading up to her death. According to the suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Linsenmeir had requested and been refused medical attention while in police custody and remained in a woman’s correctional facility until October 4, when she was taken to intensive care. Linsenmeir died three days later, and her family is requesting that the Springfield police turn over any audiovisual recordings that would corroborate the allegations of neglect.

    According to the suit, Linsenmeir texted her family on September 28, 2018 with complaints that she was “really sick” and needed to be hospitalized. The following day, Springfield police arrested her for probation-related violations, including providing a false name, according to their arrest log. She was transferred to the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department and held at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee, Massachusetts.

    The ACLU suit then alleged that at the time of her arrest, Linsenmeir was allowed to call her mother, Maureen, with a Springfield police officer on the line. She reportedly informed her mother that she was not receiving medical attention, but as the suit alleged, “the police officer refused to provide medical attention and even made a sarcastic comment to Maureen after Maureen expressed concern that Madelyn was being denied care.”

    On October 4, Linsenmeir was transferred by ambulance to the Baystate Medical Center’s intensive care unit and died there on October 7, still in police custody but with her family in attendance.

    The ACLU alleged that the phone conversation with Linsenmeir’s mother confirms that the Springfield Police Department was aware she had been refused medical treatment and is “likely in possession of audiovisual recordings” that would corroborate their claim. In the suit, Linsenmeir’s family wrote, “release of the requested records would serve the public interest by supporting Madelyn’s family in their public advocacy for the humane treatment of opioid users and for increased access to medications and medical care for people suffering from opioid use disorder.”

    According to the suit, the police department and city of Springfield have not responded to the family’s request. Hampden County Sheriff Nicholas Cocchi, whose department was not named in the suit, expressed his sympathies to Linsenmeir’s family in an statement to CNN.

    The obituary that drew attention to Linsenmeir’s struggle, penned by her sister, Kate O’Neill, was brought to global attention through social media, where it was picked up by news media outlets. In the obit, O’Neill wrote, “If you are reading this with judgment, educate yourself about this disease, because that is what it is. It is not a choice or a weakness. And chances are very good that someone you know is struggling with it, and that person needs and deserves your empathy and support.”

    View the original article at thefix.com